House Minding Blog

In the past estate owners had domestics: maids, cooks, gardeners, butlers, etc... today the handful of those who still exist can add to the list: bodyguard! In the past before the endemic break-up of families people were close enough and trust each other enough to go and mind each others' property at a moment's notice. These days are gone and sometimes you wonder if your own your property or if your property owns you. Who you gonna call?

Here comes the house sitting agency: .a service to fill a new need in the community which didn't exist 50 years ago.

The other side of the equation is to find people who are trustworthy and available at call to go and live in a property and keep it in a "live-in" state. Sadly family break-up could be the source of a new pool of people who can fill in that gap. Students whose parents are separated may no longer have a place to call their own. People moving interstate chasing a new job may do house sitting to learn and discover the suburbs around their new capital city. People who find themselves single again may baulk at the expense of maintaining a dwelling for just themselves.

How can you trust complete strangers with your most valued possession: your home? In the early days of such arrangements people would do a swap. A family from Australia would live in a house in the USA for a month. Their host would come and live in their house in Australia during the same time. This wasn't very flexible since you had to find matching partners who lived in the area you wanted to visit and were also willing to visit your hometown at the exact same time...

Owners seeking to find someone to mind their property will have no shortage of applicants. But how can you make a wise choice? It all boils down to trust. Seeing someone face to face for an interview is by far the best approach. You can see by the body language if people feel at ease in your home. You can judged how clued up they are in operating your appliances. You can see how they would get on and care for your pets and garden.

Akin to the real-estate rental market it is not unwise to ask for a security bond. If something is broken or damaged the bond or part thereof is forfeited.

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